A Different Kind of Love Story
by StZen
Summary: DISCONTINUED Kai has been ordered to marry against his will, but how will this turn around, and what will become of Kai's future when the tables are turned, and can he forget the past? Warning:OC. Hints of KaiRei in later chapters.
1. Raisa

(A/N) So yes, as warned, a main character in this story is an OC. But hopefully she is not one of those OC's that gets on everybodys nerves…

I'm hoping to actually finish this, but there's a chance I'll get too impatient and give up…I have another beyblade story in my head but I'm planning it and I'm really excited about it :P but I felt the need to write this one anyway, as planned, before the other one.

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the characters.

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August

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He knew he wasn't nervous, but he certainly wasn't happy with what he was about to do. Gripping the steering wheel a little tighter, he came close to scratching another car but narrowly missed as he pulled up on the side of the road. Stepping out, he glared at the doorway of the building he was about to enter. One of the most upper-class and famous cafes in the whole of Russia, and his grandfather had decided Kai would meet her _here?_

In a bizarre state of megalomania, Voltaire had arranged a marriage between Kai and the daughter of a well-known business associate, against Kai's will of course. He was now forced to meet her for lunch. This ought to be good, his sarcastic thoughts told him, as he regretfully and unwillingly, stepped through the double glass doors.

Upon entering, Kai thought that she had not yet arrived. This irritated him slightly because he himself was slightly late, and being a fan of punctuality, her being later than him was already lowering his opinion of the girl he had not yet been acquainted with. The thought then struck him that he wasn't entirely sure what she looked like. Having heard a brief description, he scanned the room for someone that could match it. He finally saw, discreetly taking sips from her glass, a girl who seemed to fit the 'golden hair and large eyes' description. She sat alone in the corner of the restaurant, gazing out of the window with a slightly vacant expression on her face. On that summers day she wore a white dress that seemed to flow slightly in a wind that didn't blow, and sat as though trying to balance on her head an object that wasn't really there. A soft cream coloured scarf hung loosely around her shoulders and draped on to the seat beside her. Not patient enough to wait for Kai, she had ordered a drink, that she continued to sip slowly as she continued to gaze at whatever it was that interested her outside.

She was elegant, and catching sight of her make Kai falter for a second to check that he was presentable enough. He caught himself in time and proceeded to stroll towards her, scolding his own subconscious for letting her get the better of him.

As he approached the table, he said nothing. She, however, looked up and smiled slightly.

'You must be Kai?'

He deemed a subtle nod to be a suitable answer and sat down opposite her. She continued to watch him but now it was his turn to look out of the window. A large crowd had gathered for a protest of some kind not too far away, and Kai assumed that's what she had been looking at before he approached her. He saw her lower her eyes to the menu out of the corner of his own, and realised it was safe to tear his gaze from the window.

She looked up rather sharply, as though realising how ridiculous it was that nothing had been said between them yet. Surely, she thought, this boy knew that they were to be married? But she had taken an educated guess as to the type of person that this Kai Hiwatari was, and the word 'social' didn't much come into it. Having no anti-social friends herself, the girl hoped that this would not be too much of a challenge. She made an attempt anyway. 'Well, Kai, I'm Raisa.'

She held out her hand for Kai to shake, but he did not move. He waited for the usual hurt and embarrassed expression that would usually appear on the person's face to whom the hand belonged. He waited for that awkward moment of silence before they realised that he would not return the favour. This Raisa girl seemed nice enough, but there was something Kai found suspicious about her. The very idea of having to marry her one day…the very idea of having to marry _anyone_, was enough to aggravate him.

The silence came and Raisa was left with her hand out to the open air for several moments. Though the defeated expression didn't appear on her face straight away. She continued to look over to him, waiting for him to give her a proper greeting. He had not said one word yet.

Finally seeing defeat before the situation became too ridiculous, Raisa finally sighed and began to move her hand towards her drink. At that same moment though, an awaited hand raised itself from the other side of the table. Looking him in the eye with a small smile curling on one corner of her mouth, she shook Kai's hand.

Half curious and half irritated, Kai was surprised to receive a fairly strong handshake. He glanced at her as her eyes swept over the menu far too quickly for her to actually be reading any of it. The graceful way she had originally come across to him, Kai had assumed her to be rather fragile. Her dress still appeared to be blowing slightly, though he had no idea where the breeze was coming from.

The waiter appeared and took their orders, then left again without saying very much. The protestors on the other side of the square appeared to be getting relocated. Both of them were now watching the scene through the window, but without warning Raisa spoke again.

'I've heard about you.' She took another sip of her drink and Kai wasn't quite sure what to say, but luckily she carried on. 'Your grandfather, he contacted me.' She had paused in mid-sentence, still unsure that Kai knew the reason they had been asked to meet. 'Erm, what is it you do?'

He paused for a few seconds before deciding it was okay to respond. He lowered his eyes when he spoke, unwilling to make eye contact. 'My grandfather is a successful businessman,' he said, with a hint of resentment in his voice. 'I work for his business firm, doing what exactly I don't know, but it makes a lot of money.' Kai was surprised, and it almost showed in his face, at his own mention of his wealth. No doubt, Raisa had known about it before, but it was very unlike him to mention it.

Her eyebrows raised very slightly at his response and she nodded to show she had acknowledged what he said, without speaking. He felt the need to ask her the same question, simply to be polite. 'What do you do?'

'My family owns a large business much like yours, and similarly, I have no idea what it's for.' She half smiled, half laughed, and Kai twitched his mouth slightly in response. 'But I'm a designer. A digital designer, I work from home for a small company that I own.'

Owning a company at her age, Kai was impressed, though his voice sounded disbelieving. 'Really?' She nodded absent mindedly and continued with her drink.

For a while neither of them said a word. Their food came and they ate in silence, still gazing out of the window occasionally, with nothing in particular to catch their eye anymore. She could tell that Kai was not one to talk much, and she knew well how to deal with these people, or so she thought. If he wanted silence, he would have it. She was not prepared to keep attempting conversation if he was not willing to speak. She could gladly sit in silence.

But about half way through the meal it occurred to her that the purpose of the meeting was not being fulfilled well. She had been told by her mother that she would be having lunch with her new fiancé so that they could get to know eachother somewhat. And she had showed up hoping for them to make good first impressions. At the moment, she wasn't sure of the impression he had made, and doubted that she had made a particularly good impression herself. She was a patient person in general, and well-liked, but she would have to risk this image she was trying to make of herself in order to get some sort of reaction from him.

'Are you bored?' She asked quite suddenly. Kai almost jumped, and searched for an answer. Finding none, he just looked at her. He couldn't tell if the voice that spoke was angry, but her face just looked concerned, and slightly amused. She continued before he could answer. 'I hope you don't mind my silence, I thought that's what you would want.' She paused. '…I suppose you were dragged down here against your will?'

Kai didn't feel the need to lie, and got the impression that Raisa wouldn't appreciate being lied to. 'Yes.'

She nodded in understanding. 'Well, sorry. I…' she faltered again, deciding whether or not to finish the sentence. '…I came because I wanted to. Erm...' It was the first time Kai had seen her start to look generally uncomfortable, despite the awkward silences. 'I wanted to meet you.' He found the decency to look her in the eye, but still found he had nothing to say. 'I wanted to know what you were like, I…wanted you to know what I was like.'

Now it was Kai's turn to look uncomfortable. He had half expected to have walked out of the restaurant before lunch had even arrived, cursing his grandfather for forcing him into marriage with such an irksome little brat. Yet it began to come to his attention that he was still there. Raisa was being completely honest with him, without irritating him, without insulting him. He was baffled with how to respond to her sudden confessions. He had not expected this.

Suddenly she blurted out, 'I'd be a good wife.' Kai blinked. She stammered a little and then corrected herself, 'I'll be a good wife.' She nodded slightly and her eyes began to dark around. Kai still hadn't found his voice.

As if realising how stupid she must have sounded, Raisa took in breath and continued in a very placid tone. 'Listen, If I am keeping you here then I'm sorry. If you would like to leave, you would be most welcome. But please, don't stay here if it's been forced on you.' She smirked a little to herself. Trying to gain a small amount of her pride back, she added 'After all, there are many other things I could be doing.'

How she had managed to turn the whole situation around to make it sound as though _he_ was wasting_ her_ time, Kai did not know. He frowned slightly, before chuckling to himself. She had clearly regretted the small lapse she had made earlier. He decided that he was not really in any hurry, and that humouring the girl would be somewhat entertaining. He glanced down at his food, then looked at her with a slight smile 'But I haven't finished yet.'

She caught the gist and returned the smile. For the remainder of the lunch they spoke few words, but their meeting was not deemed unnecessary by either of them. Kai was still entirely against the idea of marriage, while it seemed Raisa wasn't. Yet he decided to put it completely out of his mind.

When he and Raisa departed that day after their lunch, Kai didn't concern himself with the previous few hours for a while after. He had more important things to think about, other things he needed to get done.

He slipped into the smooth leather seat of his black jaguar, and headed out straight for the office. He would not see his grandfather until he had to, and if he was called for he would ignore it. He had much to do and enough of his precious time had been spent already that day.

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(A/N) Man, it feels good to get that started with! I really hope I finish it!

Okay so, I was going to upload this 2 chapters at a time, but I just knew I would never get this started if I didn't just go ahead with it, so it shall be one at a time for now. It will get better than this I promise :)

P.S. Raisa is a Russian name, pronounced ray-ee-sah


	2. Autumn Passtimes

(A/N) My goal was to get to chapter 10 in this fic by the end of my spring break, and I can proudly state that I managed it :D

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

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October

Despite the fact that Kai still, unfortunately, lived with his rich grandfather, he found himself having to work for his money. He had little patience for the business of the real world, or any world outside of beyblading, but as usual he dealt with it in silence. A minor job within a large corporation; not exactly what Kai'd had in mind, but at least this way he managed to go unnoticed most of the time.

Much of his time was spent in the office, supposedly working, on what he did not know, or attending meetings that he would never listen to. He could not find a passion for business as his relatives had. Endless papers and work did not appeal to him as beyblading once had. He found the hours tedious and the work dull, but at least it wasn't difficult. But whenever this thought occurred to him, he cursed at himself and wondered when he became so much like Tyson.

After the BBA Revolution's defeat against BEGA, and their finest hour, Kai had planned to remain in Japan. No longer one of the Bladebreakers, he bid farewell to his former team for a while and had begun to think up a new life for himself. All had gone well until he had begun to receive messages from various employees of his grandfather, asking when he will be returning to Moscow. He had ignored all of these messages flatly, but knew that it would not silence them. One night he was forcibly taken, against his will, from the hotel he had been making a temporary home of. He came quietly, but not without objection. He demanded to know who they were and what their purpose was, knowing full well what the answer would be. He bitterly accepted his fate, and allowed himself to be brought back to Russia, where Voltaire had been waiting for him.

The meeting had not been pleasant. Their history was more intense now than ever before. Worse still, Kai knew that Boris and Voltaire were still business partners. Boris was power-hungry and stupid. When his plans for BEGA had failed, he fled back to Voltaire, regretting ever abandoning his business partner's plans. Voltaire had power and was intelligent. He would never let Boris forget the time when he had went astray, but allowed him to be his partner in crime once again. Kai despised the both of them. He half believed that this plot to take over the World was simply a senile act between two ageing men who believed they knew what they were doing. He wasn't sure if this plot was still in play or not, but he would let the old men have their fun, so long as it didn't concern him.

All that did concern him was his grandfather's insane business strategies. He had abandoned the whole Beyblading scene, like his grandson, and realised that the real money was where the economy was at. Whatever their company did, it was something economical, or political. Either way, Kai didn't really give a damn. He had forgotten beyblading, as far as tournaments were concerned, but no aspect of business would ever give him the rush that beyblading had.

He hadn't forgotten his old team either, speaking to them perhaps more often than he would have liked. It had always been difficult to be rid of Tyson. The fact that they were in different countries didn't seem to faze the guy at all. Almost every week Kai would receive a call, or an email. If it was an email, he would ignore it more often than not. On the phone he would be brief, but not rude. After all these years, he was still not one to chat. He would usually hear Hilary faintly in the background, and rolled his eyes to know that nothing much had changed.

For two years now he had been trapped in his grandfather's clasp. The mansion may be the size of a small village, but it made no difference. There was not a building in the world that was big enough. It was still four large walls that kept Kai prisoner. He did not doubt that there was a reason for him being kept locked up, nor did he doubt that there was a reason Voltaire was keeping space between them. It looked very suspicious to him, but while he was still considering his grandfather's insanity, he kept a low profile and dealt with his life without fuss.

Having left his prized vehicle of ebony in the garage, along with the others the two of them owned, he let himself in. Throwing his keys down on the table in the hall, he didn't even bother to remove his coat as he wandered into the salon (or as he called it, the lounge). Dropping himself into the deep blue sofa, he rested his head back and closed his eyes for a moment. It was autumn. That meant it was almost winter, which meant that work would be getting steadily harder as the holidays drew nearer, as it did every year for some unknown reason. This meant longer hours and more pointless meetings.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden ringing of his cell phone. Snapping out of his trance, Kai reached for the table, sighing slightly with relief as he read the number, before answering it.

'Rei.' This was the simple greeting, lacking enthusiasm, but Rei could have easily heard the relaxation in his tone. Kai smiled slightly out one side of his mouth. It had been a long time since the two of them had spoken. There was no electricity where Rei lived in China, so no telephones or internet there.

'It's been a while, Kai' came the voice from the other end. 'How have you been?'

'Don't get me started,' he rolled his eyes, before realising Rei couldn't see him. 'Being stuck with my grandfather isn't exactly what I'd call a party.' He spat out the word 'grandfather' with resentment.

Rei gave a noise of pity before lightening up a little. 'Perhaps what you need is a little company. How about it?'

This proposal took Kai by surprise. At first he took it for a joke, but as the conversation progressed, he realised that Rei wasn't kidding. Perhaps the White Tiger currently at a loss of what to do. Perhaps he had time to spare. In that case, though instantly it had struck him as a bad idea, Kai considered it again and realised that having an old friend with him might make everything slightly more bearable. He agreed that if Rei could get to Moscow at the beginning of spring (when work would be steadily decreasing), he would pick him up from the airport and have him stay for a while.

'We'll discuss it a little later.' Kai dismissed the subject. 'But where are you at the moment?'

'Right now I'm taking refuge in Japan. I returned here because it offers better opportunities than my village in China. I'm actually staying with Tyson, but he has gone out grocery shopping with Kenny.' He stifled a small chuckle 'If he knew I was calling you while he was out…'

Kai shared the humour 'I suppose I should expect a call from him soon anyway. It's been about four days…'

Rei laughed and then silence fell for a few moments. Kai had removed his coat and was sitting back, comfortably on the sofa once more. He enjoyed speaking to Rei (perhaps because the occasion was rare) and felt he could let loose a little more around him than anybody else. He had decided to avoid any subject relating to his grandfather or his work, and Rei had, in turn, not brought it up.

'Listen, Kai. This is expensive, and I should be going anyway.' The smooth voice broke the silence from the other end of the receiver. 'It's been great speaking to you,' it said, somewhat awkwardly. 'We'll speak soon about me coming out, yeah?'

'Yeah, we will.' Came the reply, a voice that was sure of itself. 'It's been great speaking to you too, Rei.'

Seconds after placing his phone back on the coffee table, it began to ring again. Kai's eyes narrowed as he picked it up. Seeing the number of a work colleague flash up on the screen, he flipped it open and promptly turned it off, returning it to the coffee table with a small sense of satisfaction.

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Not 10 wall's distance away from his grandson, the old man sat stiffly in his study. The curtains had been drawn against the slowly dimming light. His back to the window, he leant both forearms on his desk, hands typing almost frantically on the keyboard of his laptop. There was another voice speaking out from the small computer, in a bitter and hoarse tone. Upon hearing what the voice had to say, the man's brow furrowed and his face became stony. Finally, he cried out in anger.

'They know? What do you mean they know? Boris, you had better explain yourself this instant!'

'Sir,' came the firm voice, slightly gruff through the speakers. 'The Prestifilippo boy was used as a spy. He has knowledge of our plans, and no doubt he will be quick to spread them.'

'Who sent him?' barked Voltaire, angrily.

Boris did not flinch at the old man's tone. 'Mr Luinwe, no doubt. He was suspicious of our proposal all along.'

Voltaire growled, swivelling around his large chair so as to face away from the screen for several minutes. Boris waited patiently while the back of a chair faced him. Staring intently at the curtains, Voltaire inwardly cursed all his incompetent workers, especially the man who still waited on the screen.

Finally turning around, he spoke through his teeth. 'We have worked hard on this, Boris.' he warned. 'If the Luinwe's get even further in the equation, there will be hell to pay.'

Boris nodded in understanding, then smirked as he gave an offer he knew would please. 'You have nothing to worry about, sir. Everything is being taken care of at this moment. The Luinwe's will be no more trouble to us.'

'And the boy? The little spy, what about him?'

Though Voltaire knew from family experience not to ignore the catalyst, Boris shrugged it off. 'He knows as much as them, but now that they are sure to know, they are the threat. There's nothing he can do.'

Voltaire narrowed his eyes. 'Well, if you're sure. I leave it in your hands then, Boris. And I don't expect to be disappointed.'

With the final word, their call was disconnected and the screen went static for a moment, before cutting off completely.

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(A/N) This chapter was written last out of all the 10 I've written so far, funnily enough. I tend to write things in a different order, and this one I was putting off for some reason, probably because it's not very exciting. It's always like that with the first few chapters I find (with my stories anyway :P)


	3. Hello Again

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

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December

It was winter. The weather had changed with the season and it was pitch black outside the large windows, and not much lighter inside. Two chairs were taken up around the large dining table in the west wing of the mansion, while the people sitting in them ate in silence. A normal family would call this dinner, but in Kai's case it was the time of day where he would eat very little and glare down at his plate, avoid his grandfather's eyes at all cost, and dismiss himself as soon as he could.

Sure enough, he was staring at his food with a harsh dislike, as though he were staring into the familiar cold eyes that bore on him from across the table. He pushed his food around but he wasn't hungry. He could not understand why his grandfather would condemn him to such suffering, when they had nothing to talk about and Kai could easily eat in his own dining room in the mansion's right wing, alone and in peace, as he liked to be. He hated unnecessary and uncomfortable situations. Though he was usually the best at creating them, these he would always avoid if he could.

'Kai,' the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end at the sudden voice, ringing out harshly in the silence.

He replied politely, though he did not look up. 'Yes?'

'I trust that you remember the plans we have been making?'

For a moment, Kai thought his grandfather was talking about their previous meeting in the board room. Naturally, he had not been listening to a word that was being said, too lost in his thought to pay attention to such unimportant discussions.

'I-' But before he was even going to begin, he was cut off.

'Now Kai, quite a bit of thought has gone into this. I won't have you mess it up, you understand?'

Now Kai was really confused. Still not looking up, or attempting to speak again if he would only be cut off, he tried to make it look as though he knew exactly what his grandfather was talking about.

Voltaire took his usual silence for an agreement and carried on. 'This whole situation is important, both for business and for blood. I will not stand for-'

'Blood?' Kai repeated, before he could stop himself. After a quick state of even greater confusion, the whole thing began to unravel. Kai had assumed this discussion would be based on a new business strategy, or some other insane method of taking over the world. But apparently, this was not the case.

'That's right, Kai, blood. Continuing the Hiwatari business will require a blood relative, and I will accept nothing less.'

Kai rolled his eyes at the absurdity. Business and blood. Everything that his grandfather strived for could be summed up in those two words. It was typical of him to describe family as 'blood', a deep red liquid that could kill anyone who lost too much. It was not the family he cared about, it was having a blood relative that could take control of business, 'produce an heir', as Voltaire would say. It made Kai want to laugh and gag at the same time, to hear it referred to in such a way, as though they ran a kingdom. A company was a company in Kai's mind, and nothing more. This plan may have shocked him once but he was no longer surprised by it. He was expected to marry and produce a son that could continue the business. After his own father's death, Voltaire had begun to panic and thrown Kai into a world he didn't want to be in, encouraging him to do the same as quickly as possible. Kai would have felt sorry for this non-existant child, had he had any intentions of actually obeying his grandfather's mad-cap demands. Of course, he did not speak any of his thoughts at that moment.

'Right…' he said, in a sarcastic tone. Then, standing up, he added as an after-thought 'Can I go now?'

'Not yet,' came the reply, and much to Kai's irritation, he added, with a slight smirk 'Have a little patience, Kai. There's just one more thing and then you can go.'

Kai did not sit back down, but he was now looking into his grandfather's eyes. The look was challenging and would have belittled anybody except, of course, Voltaire. He stared back into his grandsons eyes with the same sincere look. He cleared his throat and spoke slowly. 'There's somebody here, who will be staying with you.'

Kai's eyes narrowed. He could have guessed what his grandfather was about to say, but he still exhaled a little too quickly when this new guest of theirs was called into the room. The butler entered the room first to announce her entrance. Kai rolled his eyes; Voltaire had really taken their wealth seriously.

'Miss Raisa Luinwe.' He spoke, and bowed out of the way as the announced entered the room. She walked with confidence in her stride, but still looked as though she found the whole situation awkward.

Kai could agree with her there. With everything he had been doing lately, he had almost completely forgotten about Raisa. He inwardly groaned at the thought of having something else to think about. And without doubt, Raisa would be living in the right wing of the mansion with him. He imagined that her luggage was being brought up to the spare room at that very moment.

Voltaire nodded at the butler, and he turned to Raisa. 'Master Voltaire bids you to take a seat.'

Kai really did groan that time. This meant he would have to sit there longer. He watched as Raisa slowly lowered herself into a chair, bowing her head in thanks as it was pulled out for her. She had clearly just arrived; she still wore her black coat and deep red silk scarf. Kai remembered their first meeting in the summer as he watched her sit. She did not lean against the table, nor the back of the chair. She sat, completely upright, and kept her head perfectly still, though her eyes were looking around her. She had sat herself in the one seat between Kai and his grandfather.

Voltaire finished his food and it was taken away. 'Now,' he began, as though this were a business meeting. 'Miss Luinwe is to stay with you, Kai. Her belongings are already in her room, and I trust that you will show her around.' He added, stiffly, 'Is that understood?'

'Yes, grandfather.' Kai responded, through gritted teeth, without looking up from the deep wood of the table. Raisa nodded, and said a clear 'Thankyou', but it was unclear who she was speaking to.

Voltaire nodded, 'Good. You will escort her there now, Kai. I dismiss you both.'

Kai got up a little too quickly, and Raisa gracefully followed suit. She walked behind Kai as he led her to her room. Walking down the many corridors, up the many staircases, she was certain that she would never manage to find her away around the large house by herself. She had thought hers was big enough, but this one was at least twice the size. Slightly unnecessary, she thought, but kept it to herself. After all, she didn't know the whole relationship between Kai and his grandfather, or the lack of, and didn't properly understand that the more space put between them, the better. As it was, the mansion was divided in half; the left wing for Voltaire, and Kai lived in the right wing. Each one had it's own bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and everything that would be needed. They had now crossed into the right wing, which looked much the same as the left. The only difference was the lack of servants on this side of the main hall. The place was well-lit by artificial light, and large paintings hung on the walls. There were many portraits; relatives and ancestors. Walking by a large door-way, Raisa took a quick look into a great room which she took to be the lounge. Above the fireplace hung a handsome portrait of Kai himself. He was, as usual, staring with a sincere and strong expression, that the artist had captured very well. But Raisa didn't have the time to look at it properly. She couldn't risk falling behind Kai and getting lost.

'It's a beautiful house,' she remarked, not expecting a reply. In the silence her heels made a clip-clop noise on the floor, which she started to become conscious of, but continued to walk anyway.

By the time they had reached the top of the stairs, Kai had almost forgotten what he was doing, and inwardly cursed the mansion for being so large. Assuming that Raisa had been placed in the largest and grandest of the spare rooms, he approached the large oak door and opened it, stepping back to let her enter.

She smiled when she stepped into the room. Her luggage had all been placed at the foot of the large canopy bed, some of her clothes already hung up in the large closet. The room had its own bathroom and balcony. It was lovely.

She turned back to Kai, who was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

'Thankyou.'

He nodded in return, then pointed further down the hall. 'My room's over there, if you…need anything.' He said, awkwardly. She smiled back at him and he left her to unpack, closing the door behind him.

As he entered his own room, he leaned back against the closed door and sighed. Though it was unnecessarily big, he liked to have the right wing to himself. He now had to share his sanctuary with somebody else, and though he could stand her, he didn't think he was too keen on the idea. But he would have to deal with it; no matter how things would eventually work out, Raisa would be with him for a while. This idea of her moving in suggested to him that Voltaire would be planning for the wedding to be sooner than he had expected. No matter how long Kai could hold it off, Raisa would still be there. But then again, Kai didn't get the feeling that Raisa was completely against this marriage, as he was. Either that, or she had just simply accepted it, which is what it seemed like. She may have owned her own company, but in his opinion, she still seemed likely to just let her fate be decided for her. He wasn't like that, though. The only person who would decide his fate was him, and he was pretty sure that he would not be marrying Raisa, no matter how long he had to have her living with him.

But as he sat back on his bed, book in hand, he figured he might as well just deal with it. Raisa was not a bad person, as far as he knew anyway. She didn't annoy him and she seemed to understand that he would talk to her as little as possible, as he did everyone else. Tomorrow, he would show her the wing, and after that, he would hope she could find her way around, and try to keep space between them at all times. Besides, they both worked, so their time would be taken up most days anyway.

Giving up on reading, Kai decided to turn in early. He strolled into his own bathroom to brush his teeth, still trying to think of possible ways to get out of this situation, and the wedding he had a bad feeling his grandfather was already setting dates for.

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(A/N) I apologize once again to all of you who hate OC's. This one is not a minor and does have an important role in the story, sorry to say.


	4. The Blue Diamond

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

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Raisa woke the next morning to the golden sun seeping in from the gap between the curtains and the floor. She stretched and rose, opening the curtains before doing anything else to let the sun wash over her room. She had unpacked some of her belongings, but had found she was too tired to continue. By the dresser was now a small neat pile of the things left to be unpacked. She decided though, that she would do it later. Now she would wash and get dressed. Despite the cold, it was a lovely day. Too lovely to simply waste away in her room.

Kai had woken several hours before, and was downstairs in the kitchen eating breakfast. While in the left wing, Voltaire probably sat at the head of the dining room table, having his fine breakfast, prepared by the cook, brought out for him by the servants, Kai sat down at the bar in the empty kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal in the right wing. He had turned down his grandfather's offer to send half of his servants to Kai's wing. Kai had flatly stated that he wanted no servants, no help of any kind. He was happy to independently live alone in his wing.

But as he was thinking his, the other current occupant wandered through the doors. When she caught sight of him, she smiled and said, with relief 'Oh, found it.'

In return for her smile, Kai took a gulp of tea. 'Did you get lost?' He asked, slightly amused.

She chuckled 'For a few minutes.' She joined Kai at the bar, pulling out a stool that wasn't too close to him, and taking a look at the newspaper that lay on the counter. Kai suddenly realised that he was supposed to be a host of some kind.

'You want some breakfast?'

She looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned her head towards him, her golden hair creating a strange halo around her head. 'Tea would be great,' then she added, 'But I can get it…'

'No, I will.' Getting up from his cereal, Kai headed towards the kettle. Raisa continued to read the paper. It was a Sunday so Kai had the day off work. He assumed that Raisa had managed to get the day off too, having just moved into a new house. Putting down the paper, she gazed out of the large windows at the beautiful view, covered in a white blanket of snow. She had never seen anything like it; her house certainly didn't have a view like this one. Where she lived, there was nothing to see except other large houses. Voltaire's mansion was high on the hill, isolated from all other grand mansions and homes. You could see for miles out of the kitchen and lounge windows. She suspected that Kai had the fantastic view aswell, while her balcony looked over the front of the house, down the long drive that seemed to go on for ever, through the tall fur trees. Thinking of her house brought a sudden thought to her mind, and she looked over at Kai, who was still waiting for the water to boil. 'Kai, could I use the phone? I need to call my mother.'

Kai looked over at her for a moment, and then returned his gaze to the tiles on the floor. 'I'll get you the phone. In the future there's no need to ask. You live here too now.'

'Oh,' Raisa was slightly surprised at his response, and had easily sensed the resentment in what he had said. When he returned to the kitchen with the phone in his hand, she took it gratefully. 'Thankyou.'

Kai nodded and went back to the kettle while Raisa dialled the number. When the little light suddenly went off, he was relieved to have something to do other than wait, and suddenly understood why people liked to work so much: it gave them something to do. Kai's work bored him to death, but at least he was doing _something_ with his time everyday. Raisa seemed to be just the opposite. She owned a company, doing the work she loved, and worked from the comfort of her home, or wherever she was. Kai usually spent his Sunday's training, doing extra work, or reading. Today he had the job of showing Raisa the rooms of his wing. He glanced over at her, sitting at the bar stool, ankles crossed, a distant look on her face as she spoke into the receiver. The circle of light reflected on her hair was still surrounding her head. He sighed and turned back to where he was making her tea.

The tour around the right wing was brief, but still took time. It simply consisted of a long walk around the many rooms and down the corridors, in an almost silent game of follow the leader. Raisa was inwardly fascinated with the many great rooms of the right wing of the Hiwatari home, most of which probably went unused. The library was filled with shelves of books which looked as though they had never been touched. They did not venture into this room; Kai must have felt it unimportant. He simply decided to walk past it. After he had passed the door, it opened once again and Raisa almost walked into someone coming out. It was a girl, probably not much older than Raisa, but she looked startled at her presence. Raisa too, froze for a moment. Kai turned back, noticing that there had been a disruption, and scowled a little when he saw the girl. A look of pure embarrassment swept over her face, and with a swift curtsey to Raisa, she scuttled away in the other direction.

Raisa was a little bemused 'I thought you didn't keep servants?'

Kai made a smug 'hm' sound in response, then added 'Someone has to clean.'

'I see. What's her name?'

'Beats me.'

Raisa frowned and bit her lower lip, but said no more and continued to follow Kai through the mansion. She came from a household where servants were always addressed respectively, by name. They were treated fairly, though as servants should be. But this girl had looked startled at the sight of Raisa, and discomforted that Kai had even seen her. Kai did not know her name, and Raisa doubted that anybody in the whole of Voltaire's mansion knew any of the servant's names. This may have been her first hint at the social class awareness of the Hiwatari's.

Once every room had been shown they found themselves back in the sitting room. The portrait Raisa had caught a glimpse of the previous evening glared down at them, keeping a watchful eye on its territory. Perched comfortably on the royal blue sofa, they prepared for a peaceful afternoon of silence.

After a couple of hours, in which Kai sat lost in his thoughts and completely undisturbed, he assumed the lack of activity had taken an effect, as Raisa rose and announced she was taking a walk. Kai nodded, pointed out once again that she needn't ask permission for such things, and stayed seated as she swiftly shut the door behind her. For a moment he wondered whether she might try to escape, before he remembered how unlike her that was. An amusing image of the senile old man, ranting from an upstairs window at the girl he thinks is making a break for it, crossed his mind. With a small shake of the head to nobody in particular, he sighed at the thought of once again being by himself. But though he would never admit it, he deemed himself quite lucky, compared to what _could_ have happened. He had never really met a person he could tolerate so much, who left him alone and spoke only a little more than him. The only thing that he could think of that got on his nerves was her constant seeking of approval. Anything she wanted to do, she felt she had to ask. Kai didn't know whether to be pleased with this or not. She clearly did not want to get on his bad side, and felt that making herself at home was a sure way to do just that. His attitude intimidated her, though she tried not to show it. He rubbed his eyes, which only increased his fatigue. Yet another who wanted to gain his endorsement.

There was only one room Kai had not shown her: his. This was partly for privacy reasons, and partly because he barely took an interest in it himself, so why should anybody else? Though the wealth had helped to turn it into the sort of room any guy at his age would want, Kai simply wasn't used to that sort of thing. While growing up in Balcov Abbey, the children had lived in grimy cells that lay deep underground. Even these were shared with several other boys. When travelling with the Bladebreakers and other teams, Kai had never had a room of his own; always some hotel room which they would share. Kai could deal just fine with that. A room of his own was a waste of space to him; though it was filled with his belongings, and much else to accommodate his every desire, it was no sanctuary. It was simply a room.

He had been on his way there when something had caught his attention. A frosty breeze was encircling the landing. Walking by, he noticed that Raisa's door and window were both open, the curtains flapping loudly with the wind. Exhaling heavily, Kai strode into the room in order to bring the wing back to a reasonable temperature. Once the window was shut the room was filled with silence. Glancing through the glass, Kai saw nothing but snow.

He had intended on leaving immediately, having closed the window. Without the intention of snooping, he had entered to do both him and Raisa a favour. It was the small sheet of paper that caught his eye, which lay, unfolded, on the dressing table. Kai retrieved it from the collection of hair lotions, perfume and makeup, reading it out of curiosity.

'_Raisa, when you return from London I shall be gone, but I ensured that all your possessions be packed and nothing left behind. I am sorry to have missed you, and do hope that everything turns out for the best. You know that should you change your mind, I support your every decision. I know your wisdom would never lead you astray. Your father and I shall be returning for the new year. Though I must not explain where we have been, I will be sure to see you again very soon. All the best.'_

So, Raisa had been in London the past few months. This explained why Kai had heard nothing of her name since their first meeting that summer. From the letter, it looked as though Raisa was highly thought of in her family, and perhaps they were unwilling to let her go so quickly. Until then, Kai had been under the impression that this engagement had been formed between the two families, but for a moment he wasn't too sure. He brushed off this thought instantly though, as a mother simply worried about her daughter.

Taking the opportunity to let his curiosity lead him further astray, Kai noticed a stack of papers sitting on the bed, still waiting to be put away in their rightful places. Standing with his back to the door, Kai flicked through them. They were mainly designs and rough thumbnails, obviously for work. But at the bottom of the small pile were two that stood out from the rest, being much larger and thicker. Gently placing the designs on the pillow, Kai bent over the remaining sheets.

They were portraits. Both skilfully done, by the same artist, using the same medium (some form of oil paint). The smaller of the two was clearly Raisa, but at a slightly younger age. It was the hair that gave it away; a striking ruby red that clearly wasn't natural, and a huge contrast to the calm golden colour of her hair now. The portrait was her head and shoulders. White material of clothing draped loosely over her shoulders, and around her neck hung a silver chain, the centre of which drew all eyes towards it immediately. Bringing out the colour of her eyes, a vast realm of deep blue. A blue diamond, in which one could get lost in. It was entrancing, and Kai's eyes had been drawn to it almost immediately.

The other painting was an upper-body portrait of two people. Raisa, with chestnut coloured hair, this time in an expensive-looking black gown, and a boy whom Kai did not recognise. He was almost a foot taller than Raisa, dressed as smartly as she was, with a slight smile on his face. He was faintly handsome, but could not be picked out in a crowd. Yet he had an honest face, with a shy aura about him. This Kai managed to gather simply from the painting. But Raisa was smiling in this portrait aswell, one of those rare smiles people give when they really mean it, and the artist had somehow managed to capture it perfectly.

While examining the paintings, Kai had temporarily forgotten to not let his guard down. Before he could contemplate returning to his room, as was the original plan, his thoughts were interrupted by a voice from the doorway.

'Having fun?'


	5. Petty Stupid Things

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

* * *

She stood in the doorway, shoes in one hand, black coat in the other, her scarf still around her neck and gloves still on her fingers. She did not look at all offended to find Kai lurking around her possessions; on the contrary she held a look of amusement on her face. She got no answer, so she crossed the room to hang her coat in the closet.

Kai thought of leaving, while her back was turned, but that would just look suspicious. He was torn between walking out or staying and attempting to justify his reason for being there. Luckily, he didn't have to do anything, because Raisa had approached him from behind and begun to speak.

'Oh, those things. I can't imagine why my mother wanted me to take them. I mean, what am I supposed todo, _tape_ them to the walls?'

Kai was still looking at them as she took off her gloves, one finger at a time, and threw them down on the bed. She peered over them aswell and continued to speak.

'That was two years ago. I was fifteen. Everybody in my family had individual portraits, and one family portrait, though that one hangs in my house.' Suddenly, she asked. 'What catches your eye?'

Perhaps it was the abruptness of the question that forced answer out of Kai before he had a chance to think. 'The stone around your neck.'

She smiled and nodded. 'The diamond. It's beautiful, I know. But I don't have it anymore…'

'Why's that?'

'My mother gave it away, in exchange for…' she paused, looking shiftily between the painting and Kai. Finally, with a vague hand motion, she finished the sentence. '…you.'

'What?' Kai had, again, answered without thinking. The whole thing sounded ridiculous, but Raisa quickly continued.

'It was unnecessary. A man who did business with your grandfather had my mother convinced that you were one of the most eligible bachelors in Moscow, maybe even the whole of Russia.' She shook her head. 'My mother. She didn't even know if she wanted me to be betrothed, but the thought of competition sold her on the idea. She handed the man many valuables: pearls, vases, some of the most expensive things we owned. I refused to give her my blue diamond, but she stole it from my bedroom one day while I was in town.'

Kai was very taken aback, and slightly startled. This was only made worse when Raisa glanced sideways at him and said, smirking 'I suppose I should feel privileged.'

This remark was sarcastic, and meant to be taken lightly, but Kai was annoyed. He knew it had to be Boris; with his greed, he would reek the benefits left of a done deal, the way one might continue to squeeze a lemon when they already have enough juice. He couldn't apologize because it had nothing to do with him. But he somehow felt like she was making him responsible. In response he gave his usual 'hmm', and the subject was dropped.

'This one,' Raisa continued, lifting the larger portrait and tilting it slightly to face them. 'was painted when I was sixteen, so just under a year ago.' She smiled slightly with nostalgia. 'I remember it being a fantastic party.'

'Who is it?'

The smile vanished quite quickly, and was replaced with another, but a sad one. 'His name is Marcus Prestifilippo. You wouldn't recognise his name, but he is a cousin to a famous European beyblader that I'm sure you would know, Enrique Giancarlo.'

At the look on Kai's face, she laughed out loud. Continuing, she held up her right hand in a defensive way. 'Oh no, I've met Enrique. Believe me, Marcus and him share no likeness. In fact, they're quite opposite.'

Kai had no interest in hearing about this Marcus, but it appeared that Raisa wanted to talk about it, and what other choice did he have? Once, a few years ago, he would have walked out a while ago. He probably would not have entered in the first place. Once, he would have left without a word. But this time he wasn't. With lack of anything better to do, he was letting Raisa talk, and found that he was listening.

'Were you betrothed to him aswell?' Kai asked sarcastically, expecting another charming laugh. Instead, he heard a sigh and looked up as she continued speaking.

'Perhaps we would have been. We were not together for long, but at times it seemed that our lives had been silently decided.'

'Well, what happened?' Raisa was quite shocked at Kai's interest. Not to mention the slightly impatient tone with which he asked the questions. She wasn't the only one. Kai too was surprised at himself.

She shrugged and shook her head. 'I don't like to speak about it much. But, well it was many things. Many petty stupid things that get to couples. I thought with him we could skip stupid problems like that. I suppose believing that was the stupid thing.'

She stayed silent for a few moments. Kai did not ask any more questions, he simply stood there. They both looked to the bed, where the portrait had been put down again.

After the long hesitation, she spoke again. 'He was unreliable, and a liar.' She nodded defiantly, as though deciding this was a logical reason. 'At times he would imply that I was a liar aswell. I can't _stand_ it when people aren't honest. He knew he wasn't. He didn't believe that I was, until…'

There was another pause, as though she was deciding whether or not to continue talking. Kai at least _looked_ as though he might be listening, so she continued with slight reluctance, beginning her sentence with the end of the previous one.

'I left him, eventually. I realized after a while that…it was dangerous. Not literally dangerous,' she added, as Kai seemed to perk up a little. 'But when you are a girl of sixteen who falls a little too easily, an unreliable, lying charmer like him can be dangerous territory indeed.'

Deciding not to comment on this, Kai looked back to the portrait of the smiling girl beside this dangerous charmer. 'You look happy…'

'I was. And I believe for a while, he thought he was too.' The sad smile returned. 'Considering how kind and polite he was, he had a harsh way of dealing with people. Leaving them forgotten and wondering what happened. I saw him walk out on his closest friends, though he had many others and it did not matter to him. And one day it occurred to me,' she paused again before continuing. 'His words to me, the way he treated me, everything he said, wasn't true.' She shrugged again. 'He had himself fooled still, but not me.'

A thought occurred to her, and she looked towards Kai again. 'The relationship was turning sour, when we first met.'

Kai looked up at her. This had all seemed so long ago, it had not occurred to him that Raisa had been with somebody else at the time. But then again, she had told him truthfully that she had arrived voluntarily to meet him.

'After it ended, I went to London. He didn't come after me, and I wasn't surprised. Since then I have not seen him, because though we could be good friends, I know it's not safe.'

Kai was beginning to wonder when this story would end. He figured that by asking questions, she might reach the end of it quicker, instead of all these pauses where nothing was said. 'Why's that?'

She answered as though this was the most obvious question Kai could have asked her. 'I'd willingly fly back to him.' Simply put. At Kai's disbelieving look, she explained 'He is a charmer, like I said. To this day, the nicest man I've ever known. Though he could not bring himself to follow me, he cares about me. He could easily fool himself again, and I'm worried he could fool me too. So, it's easier to just not see him.' She concluded. Then, letting out a small chuckle, she smiled and rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion 'Italians!'

Kai smirked. His allegation that the boy had appeared honest was clearly incorrect. But this just showed how deceitful some people could be. At her mention of his family's country of origin, he saw the perfect opportunity to change the subject slightly.

'If he's Italian, what's he doing in Russia?'

She opened her mouth to answer, then paused, tilting her head to one side. She look at him thoughtfully. 'Good question. I have no idea, business probably. His family has been here a while, longer than mine I'm certain.'

'Where are you originally from?'

'Half English, a quarter French and a quarter Russian,' she recited. 'My family darted between London and Paris for years, but we settled in Moscow when I was nine.'

Kai 'hmm'ed again. This conversation had gone on for a while now, and he left the room with a far greater knowledge about the woman he was instructed to marry. However, his opinion had not altered much. He understood her better, knew a little about a past relationship (which Kai could care less about), but the impression she gave had remained much the same. She was a girl that carried her pride everywhere, but lacked motivation to take control of her own life, as though it were not important. She tried to protect herself by allowing a marriage to be arranged for her, no longer trusting her own judgment.

As he was nearing his door, he heard her approaching behind him. 'Kai, one more thing?'

He turned, half hoping that she was not about to continue with more of her stories. Fortunately, it had nothing to do with it, and the incident was not brought up again.

'I have a party to attend, which I'll be making my own way to, if you wouldn't mind?'

At her seeking approval, once again, Kai frowned slightly. She mistook his expression completely, and stammered slightly 'Of course, you are welcome to attend, but I assumed you'd rather not…'

'You assumed correctly.' Kai said flatly. As he turned back, he said over his shoulder. 'You can go where you want, you don't need my permission. It's your wing as much as it is mine now.'

Again, with his response to her asking permission, she heard the resentment in his voice. It would take a while for him to accept the fact that he would no longer be free to live in solitude. Yet, Raisa still was not comfortable to treat the wing as though it were her own. She knew it rightfully belonged to Kai, she felt a guest in the large Hiwatari home, while Kai insisted, with regret, that she partly owned it now. Sooner or later, she would _be_ a Hiwatari, and wondered if even then, they would be expected to share a house with Kai's grandfather, in case one of them were to flee from his grasp forever.


	6. Howl to me, Wolf

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

* * *

January

For weeks their lives went on as normal. As the weather became harsher and the temperature dropped, Kai became less and less conscious that he was even alive, let alone living. It had not been an eventful winter. Every morning, Kai woke up at the same time, left for work at the same time, took his breaks at the same time, and returned at the same time. He hated this routine in which he lived, but had accepted that there wasn't much that could be done about it.

Raisa, who had spent Christmas away from her family seeing as her parents were still gone, didn't seem to be restless in the least. She worked too, but at her own pace, with her own schedule. Kai envied her greatly for being able to work from where she pleased, when she pleased. His money could buy him nothing; Voltaire would keep him within the business world as long as possible. A long time ago, he had been forced into beyblading, for family honour. Now, he was being forced to life the average life, as though he wasn't already wealthy. He wondered faintly if he would ever grow to love the company as his grandfather did, but decided that would be an extremely depressing fate.

It was on a Tuesday morning that he showed up on the doorstep. Their completely unexpected guest, and in a way, their saviour. When Kai overslept that morning, due to a failed alarm clock, he had no idea that their lives were about to become so much more interesting.

He was late for work, for the first time ever, which ruined his perfect record and he was more than displeased about it. Cursing and fuming, he began to put his shoes on, toothbrush still sticking out the corner of his mouth. Suddenly he was disturbed by the irritating buzz of the machine beside his bed.

'Stupid thing.' he muttered, bashing the 'off' button with more force than was necessary. He wondered when he had set it to go off an hour later than it should have, and why he could possibly want to wake up later. He didn't dwell on this though, as he had more pressing things to concern himself with.

Deciding against breakfast, he was making his way to the garage when he stopped. He could have sworn he just heard the doorbell. This was very out of the ordinary, for somebody to be calling on Kai, and he wondered if Raisa had been out and forgotten her key. Damn lucky I overslept then, thought Kai, as he made his way (still fuming) back to the front of the house.

When he reached the hall, the door was already open. He could see Raisa, but she was on the inside, which meant she had opened the door to somebody else. Getting closer, Kai saw somebody who he really hadn't expected to see. He had half thought it might be Tyson, come over to demand a reason as to why Kai hadn't called him back the last three times. It seemed like the sort of thing Tyson would do, just to get on his nerves. But this wasn't Tyson. Standing outside the door, with a bag, was a cold and very confused Tala.

'May I help you?' Raisa asked politely, not knowing that Kai was approaching. Tala spotted him and she looked round.

'Oh, Kai. I thought you had left already…'

She trailed off, and Kai ignored her completely for a moment. He was too busy wondering why Tala, of all people, had decided to show up on his doorstep. And why was there a bag with him?

'Kai,' he began, not looking at all fazed by the look he was receiving. 'Can I come in?'

'Do what you want.' was the cold answer, and Kai began to walk away, forgetting the rush he had been in a few minutes ago. Tala stepped into the house and followed, giving Raisa a slightly suspicious look.

'I'm not coming in to work today,' Kai was explaining to the telephone receiver as they entered the sitting room. 'I've caught an illness. Please inform my grandfather of my absence, and my calling.' Before even waiting for an answer, Kai put the phone down and crossed the room, seating himself on a couch.

Tala awkwardly sat beside him. 'You have an illness?'

'Of course I don't have an illness.' Kai snapped impatiently. He rolled his eyes, but Tala chuckled and Raisa assumed that this was the way these two communicated. She faintly recognised the red-head, knowing he was a beyblader, but not much else. He obviously had no idea who she was, and was wondering why she was there.

'Coffee?' she asked brightly, hoping to avoid some sort of awkward introduction.

Tala started a little 'Er, yeah. Thanks.' He muttered. Kai just made a 'hm' noise, which she took to be a 'yes'.

As soon as she was gone, the explanations began. 'Kai, I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but I think I may be in a lot of trouble right now. I,' he hesitated. 'I need a place to stay.'

'What happened?'

'Boris.' He began. Then, realising this wasn't a suitable answer, decided to continue. 'When I was released from hospital, after your BEGA defeat two years ago, I was under the impression that Boris had been defeated. I thought that was the end. But apparently not. He's still working on something, Kai.'

'I know.' Kai turned to look at the blue-eyed former beyblader now. 'He has been working with my grandfather again.'

'Voltaire?' Tala seemed shocked to hear this. It was so long ago that the two of them had been working together, and now it was all happening again? It seemed as though everything had gone backwards, as though nothing had been resolved at all.

Kai nodded. 'I don't know what it's for, but I know something's being planned.' He suddenly seemed more relaxed and sat back a little further in the sofa. 'Though I'm pretty convinced that his age is affecting his mental abilities.'

Tala didn't laugh. Whether or not this was the case, the two of them had power, and that was the scary thing. In a way, it's a lot more difficult to control somebody once their mind has stopped thinking rationally.

'He had me in his clutches for months, despite my previous attempts to break away from my past with him.' He shuddered at the memories, and Kai knew what he was getting at. The small wave of sympathy he had always had for Tala began to wash over him again, at the mention of his history with Boris. 'He has been working for ages on something. Some sort of plan. I had no idea it concerned Voltaire, but now that I know, perhaps coming here was a mistake…'

'Does he know you're here?' Kai demanded.

Tala shook his head. 'He shouldn't. Whatever he was working on, I destroyed it. Still without knowledge of what I was looking for, I destroyed everything.' He sounded quite astonished at what he had done, and at the same time slightly proud. This was something Kai would have done without hesitation, but not him. He had always been one to just escape when the opportunity arose and sneak away without concern for anything else. But Kai, no. Kai had to destroy everything in his path before he could think of running away from something. It was part of his more destructive nature that Tala knew better than anybody.

'You destroyed everything.' Kai stated flatly. 'What was it you destroyed exactly?'

Tala immediately shrugged. 'I told you, I don't know. But I know there was something important.'

'How did you get here?'

'I ran. Then I took a cab until I ran out of money. Then I carried on running.'

'And why did you decide to come here?'

'Because I thought you would want to know.' He looked Kai straight in the eye. 'Whatever Boris is planning, it could be dangerous. Besides, I need a place to stay, where he can't get to me.'

'And you decided I would be the best option?' asked an amused tone, to which Tala responded with a self-satisfied smirk.

'Who else would I trust to protect me?'

Kai scowled at Tala's humour, just as they realised they were no longer the only people in the room. Raisa had returned, with two small mugs of coffee for the two of them. Tala continued to talk, indiscreetly, and in Russian.

'Who on earth is she, anyway?'

'Another reason to believe my grandfather is growing senile.' Kai responded, in placid Russian, taking a sip of the coffee. He closed his eyes for a moment as the hot liquid soothed his throat, which had been getting sore and bothering him recently.

Raisa had seated herself on the sofa opposite, well aware of the fact she was being left out of a conversation, unaware it was about herself. She tried her best to look as though she were not aware of being excluded. But Tala was still giving her funny looks from across the room. Kai waved this away swiftly 'She's okay, don't concern yourself with her. She isn't any trouble.'

Now it was Kai's turn to get the suspicious look. 'How long has she been here?'

'About a month.'

Tala almost choked on his coffee, but Kai remained passive. Raisa's eyes darted over to them for a moment, still not understanding what they were talking about, and starting to feel very inept.

'She _lives_ here?'

There was no response, so Tala assumed the answer.

'Is she a…servant of some sort?'

'No, she's not a servant.' Kai sighed, knowing he would have to give the whole explanation now, something he was hoping to avoid. He didn't like mention of the subject at all; it only made him feel less in control of his life. 'We're betrothed.'

'Betrothed?' Whatever Tala had been expecting, that wasn't it. Setting his coffee down so as to avoid a lethal accident, he turned back towards Kai in questioning, his eyes wide and a slight smile crossing his features.

Kai resumed explaining. 'A business match between me and the daughter of another wealthy family.' He spoke as if the whole subject of his future marriage bored him to tears.

'Oh.' Was all Tala could say for now. It was quite a shock to think that Kai Hiwatari, was engaged to be married to some girl. For a moment he felt quite sorry for her in spite of himself, and then it occurred to him that he didn't know who 'her' was. 'What's her name?'

Kai scoffed. 'Ask her yourself.'

Out of embarrassment Tala cleared his throat slightly. Then, turning back to face the girl sitting opposite him, whom they had both been impolitely ignoring since she had brought them their drinks, he said 'I'm Tala.'

She smiled faintly, relieved that he had decided to use English. She had lived in Russia for quite some time, yet still she did not know the language. At least, not in the way they spoke it. It was too fast for her to begin to comprehend. 'Tala,' she repeated in a smooth voice, with the nod of her head. 'I'm Raisa.'

For the remainder of the morning they made brief conversation. Though, despite the fact that Kai was the link between Raisa and Tala, he naturally did the least talking. This almost forced the other two to make themselves acquainted. When they had eaten their lunch, Tala was sent up to the spare room next to Raisa's, while Kai retreated to his study in order to catch up with some extra paperwork, seeing as he had taken the day off.

Later on that evening, the two boys had made themselves comfortable in the salon, both silently enjoying the books they were reading. The noise of footsteps on the other side of the room made the red-head look up to see Raisa striding towards them in a long emerald green dress, pulling on long cream gloves, with a cream coat slung over her arm to match.

'Another party?' Kai inquired, without looking up.

'Yes, I just thought I'd come and…let you know…' she hesitated, still looking at Kai whose eyes were fixed on his book.

He sighed 'Do what you want.'

She smiled and bowed her head slightly. 'Thankyou. Goodnight, both of you.'

As she departed, Tala smirked slightly, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Shaking it off, he looked over at the guy beside him. 'How come you don't go to these parties, Kai?'

For that remark, Tala received both a raised eyebrow, and a feeling that the time he would be spending with Kai and this girl, whom Kai had actually convinced him was not a pain as most girls they knew were, would be nothing short of eventful.

* * *

(A/N) Never heard of coffee soothing a sore throat? Well, me neither :P but lets not question it.

Tala is going to be a little OOC in this story probably. Though I do my best, I like an OOC Tala, makes life more interesting :)


	7. Flashy Clothes and Cars

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

* * *

February

One surprisingly warm afternoon in February they were interrupted at lunch by a phone call. Had the three teenagers been living in their half of the mansion as they should be, the butler would have emerged with the phone balancing on a silver tray. Alas, this was not the case, and Kai got up from his seat and made his way over to the telephone.

'Yes?' he grunted his usual greeting. There was a pause as Raisa and Tala listened to see who was calling, though they suspected it would be a business associate of Kai's.

A moment later, Kai strolled in and handed the hand-set to Raisa. 'It's for you.'

'Oh, thankyou.' She said politely, taking it and rising from the table. 'Hello?...Oh, mom! How are you?'

Tala sneered slightly at the sudden change in the girl's behaviour. Yet at the same time, both boys felt a very small tinge of sadness, having nobody to speak to in such a way like Raisa did. Neither of them had relatives whom they loved, and who clearly loved them back. But there was Raisa, pacing the room indelicately, having an animated conversation with a mother that clearly cared for her daughter's well-being. Clearly she didn't have a family intent on taking over the world and using their girl as merely a tool, Kai thought with faint resentment.

Her mother must have said something amusing, for Raisa suddenly broke out into giggles, before controlling herself. 'Now, come on mother, what was the reason you called? Are you home now?'

The questions went on like that for a while. 'Can't you tell me where you've been?', 'Why not?', 'Why wouldn't you tell me of all people? I have no reason to tell anybody.', 'What have you been doing?' and so fourth. But she received no answer to any of them by the looks of it, and gave up with a sigh after a few tiring minutes of curious questioning.

Realising this conversation was going next to nowhere, Kai and Tala resumed eating their lunch in silence. Raisa continued to get more and more fed up as the conversation on the phone went on.

'But why is it so important?...What do I care if he's there? And more importantly, what do _you_ care?' Suddenly all patience and grace left her and she seemed to forget the two boys sitting at the table behind her and cried out with exasperation 'Mother! That's enough! I will not hear any more of this!'

Suddenly Kai and Tala's curiosity drew them back into her conversation again, but they remained eating in silence, now listening quite intently. 'But, but I'm fine! What's made you suddenly change your mind? It was yours and dad's doing in the first place!'

She took in breath and shook her head to herself as she heard the almost desperate arguments on the other end of the receiver. Finally, with a stiff tone, she ended the conversation abruptly. 'Alright mother, I will be there. When I arrive we shall have a talk about all of this…Very well, I'll speak with you soon.' And with that final note, she hung up, turning back to the boys at the table as though they had simply imagined her losing her temper in front of them. With the phone next to her, she returned to her seat and resumed eating. After a few moments of silence, she turned to address Kai, a look on her face that showed she had been trying to think of how to word what she was about to say for the past five minutes. Kai didn't look up at her as she began to speak.

'Kai,' she said, in a far softer tone than the one she had just been using on the phone. 'tonight there is a party that I have no choice but to attend-'

'How many times do I have to tell you that it's none of my concern when you go to parties and you don't need to ask my permission for it?' Kai interjected, with an icy edge to his voice.

This tone only made Raisa even more uneasy. She shifted slightly in her seat and continued, clearing her throat to regain self control 'Yes, you've told me many times. But Kai no, this time there's something else I want to ask you.' She lightly scratched her neck with hesitation and both boys waited patiently to see what this question or perhaps, request, would be. 'This time, I was wondering if I could ask you to accompany me.'

She ended her sentence rapidly, and Tala's eyebrows raised with amusement as he looked over at Kai. This request hadn't shocked Kai enough to look in Raisa's direction, but he opened his eyes and sat in silence for a moment, as if daring the girl to provide him with a logical reason as to why he should do something he didn't want to do.

'I promise you it won't be too unbearable. We won't even stay long, two hours at most.' She looked at him again. 'I wouldn't ask you any other time.'

Kai sighed, loudly, to show his defeat which even he thought came a little too easily. 'Fine.'

Raisa smiled with relief, before remembering somebody else. 'Oh, Tala, you're welcome to come along aswell.'

Tala smiled out one side of his mouth 'Thanks for the offer. I'll think on it. But why is it so important for Kai to attend this one?'

'Well,' she said, with reluctance, before finally deciding to just spit out whatever it was she didn't want to say. 'My parents will be there, along with many family friends and important people.' More strength was coming into her voice now. 'I want them to see that they didn't make a mistake by sending me here.'

Kai did look at her this time. In a subtle way, Raisa had just told him that her parents didn't approve of this arrangement. She had also told him, more importantly, that she did.

Finding himself without an answer to give, which happened all too often in Raisa's presence, a usual 'hmm' seemed to suffice as a response. She sought the opportunity to look him properly in the face and say 'Thankyou.', something that Raisa said often, which never had so much meaning behind it.

She stood up and spoke awkwardly, as though she felt it very unnatural for her to be giving instructions in a house that (despite Kai's constant remarks) wasn't hers. 'We shall leave at seven.' Before hastily adding, 'Is that alright?'

Kai nodded, then gave her a firm reminder 'No more than two hours.'

She smiled and, taking her plate with her, made to leave the dining room.

'Hey, Raisa?' Tala called after her.

She turned 'Yes, Tala?'

'What were you laughing about earlier?'

As she remembered, she almost broke out into laughter again, but checked herself in time. 'Oh,' she answered, with a gleeful smile, 'My mother, she said that Kai sounded handsome on the phone.'

Tala shared her laughter as she departed. Kai did absolutely nothing; he was not about to encourage their stupid games.

'So, the family don't approve.' The red-head said to nobody in particular, an air of delight still in his voice. 'Looks like you're going to have some competition here tonight, Kai. Then again, I guess you'd be lucky if her family backed out of this.' He laughed again. 'Be sure to be yourself at that party, I'll kick myself to know I missed the one occasion where Kai Hiwatari was the social butterfly.'

Kai wasn't at all amused by Tala's taunting 'You're going too.' he said flatly.

'Oh no you don't.' Tala's smile had faded ever so slightly. 'I don't have to go, I'll feel like the third wheel the whole night. Besides, I have absolutely nothing to wear.' The smile had crept back on to his face gradually with every word he spoke.

Kai scoffed, 'Nothing to wear? Tala, please.' Then he turned serious again, 'You're going. You'll borrow something of mine to wear, but you're still going.'

'I really think it would be better if-'

'I'm not letting you stay here on your own.'

With the sheer determination, and hint of concern, in his voice, Tala knew that he wouldn't be convincing Kai otherwise. He sighed in defeat, as Kai had only minutes before. He didn't say anything; he didn't have to. Kai had spoken, and that was that. For a few more seconds, they spoke quickly to one another, as though it were a battle of wits, though they both knew the battle had been won.

'Parties aren't my scene.'

'Do you think they're mine?'

'I'm only thinking of your safety.'

'And I'm being the sensible one and thinking of yours.'

There was another defeated sigh and Kai got up to leave, wallowing in satisfaction. Tala watched him go, with knowledge and defeat, muttering something that Kai had no chance of hearing.

'Your funeral.'

'We'll take my car,' Kai said, as though it were a statement rather than an offer. They were making their way through the oversized garage, towards Kai's gorgeous black jaguar.

'Oh,' Raisa hesitated. 'Well, I was going to suggest taking my car. That way I can drive us back if you…' She trailed off, realising what she was about to say was ludicrous. Tala roared with laughter, but Kai continued to walk and the two of them followed in silence.

Tala stopped at one vehicle on the way and let out a low whistle. The car was cream coloured and quite old, though it had obviously been cared for very well. It looked as though it came straight out of the fifties. 'Nice one. Kai, is this one of yours? I had no idea you would want something like this, what with your jaguar and all.'

Raisa stepped up behind him, a smug expression on her face 'That one's mine.'

Tala made an interested 'mmm' noise, and they continued to follow Kai past the many vehicles owned by the Hiwatari's. 'I agree with Kai, we can't take that. It'll get stolen easily.'

Raisa objected. 'Oh, but Kai's car is far more likely to strike an interest. Mine's lovely and old, but the jaguar is modern and exciting. I know which one I would steal if I could.'

The conversation went on much like that as they made their way through the garage, walking a lot slower than Kai. When they reached the car, Raisa opened the back door for herself. But before she could get in, Tala swooped down into the back seat. 'Why thankyou, my lady.' he said in jest, and shut the door behind him, leaving Raisa to climb into the passenger seat. She shrugged and chuckled to herself. It hadn't been very long, but despite the first impressions, she had grown to like Tala. She thought he had a witty sense of humour, and anybody who could get along well with Kai deserved her respect.

'What family's party is this anyway?' Tala asked, closely examining the many complex window and seat controls on the side of his door.

Her answer made Kai turn to look at her, but he found her expression hadn't changed, and she didn't look back. 'The Prestifilippo's.'

After Kai pulled up his car on the lawn, among many others, the three of them stepped inside the front door, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves. Despite their efforts, whispers were following them; many already knew of Kai and a surprising amount of people recognised Tala. Raisa too was known, but it wasn't unusual for her to be showing up at parties like this, so nobody commented on her arrival.

'Can I get any of you a drink?' They were asked at the door by one of the many servants.

'Champaigne, please.' Raisa said gracefully, handing her coat over to another servant and stepping further inside.

Kai shook his head and made to follow. Tala, much to Kai's hidden amusement, kindly asked the man for a peach margarita. Kai rolled his eyes as he heard this, and mumbled something that sounded like 'stupid gay.'

For the next hour or so, the three of them tried to stick together, but kept getting separated by eager people who wanted a word with them individually. Kai was good at ignoring people, but when it started to prove ineffective, Raisa had to step in several times to rescue him. While Tala was busy engaging in reluctant conversation with an eccentric old man, Raisa took the material of Kai's jacket sleeve in between her fingers and spoke quietly to him. 'Follow me, my parents are over there. As soon as this is done I'll leave you alone.'

Sauntering her way over, with kai hesitantly following, they entered a different room where Raisa's parents were seated. Upon seeing their daughter, both rose to their feet to greet her. Kai half expected Raisa to jump into her mother's arms, but this was not the case. The two smiled, somewhat warmly, and kissed eachother on the cheek. She then graced her father with the same strong handshake Kai still remembered from the day they had first met. Kai stood stiffly beside her, lacking any confidence with the knowledge that these people wanted this marriage to happen perhaps less than he did.

'This is Kai. I don't believe you've met before.'

As Kai shook their hands, both of them seemed nice enough. Raisa's mother even looked quite impressed. Her father seemed to take a polite interest, and began to do the one thing Kai was dreading most of all, ask questions. 'Kai Hiwatari, it is a privilege to finally meet you. You work for your grandfather's company, do you not?'

'Yes sir, that's correct.'

'Interesting,' he said thoughtfully. 'Tell me Kai, how-?'

'Listen dad, we can't hang around.' Raisa interrupted, coming to Kai's rescue for the fifth time that night. 'We won't be staying long, and there's many more people to see.'

'Oh, of course.' Her father stepped down, bowing his head to Kai slightly as the two of them turned to walk away.

'Alright,' she said, as soon as they were out of sight. 'You can do what you wish now, I'll catch up with you later. If my dad comes back to pester you, don't worry, there's nothing you need to lie about.'

Kai was suspicious, but nodded without question, and Raisa left him standing alone in a large room full of elaborate and interesting people he didn't know. His first instinct was to find Tala, but as he began to make his way back to the room they had been in before, he was called over by yet another successful businessman, willing to talk strategies. He sighed, this would be a long two hours.

Raisa found her way back to her mother, relieved her father had disappeared momentarily. The warm smiles had disappeared now that it was just the two of them. 'Do you still think this was a mistake?'

Her mother was torn, and it showed in her face. 'He's something, he really is.' she said in an unconvincing voice.

'He's more than he appears aswell.' Raisa strongly defended Kai's case. 'He's not the most social of people, but he's strong and has a devoted mind.'

Without looking at her daughter, a sudden change was made in the subject after a long silence. 'Have you seen Marcus yet?'

Raisa's expression hardened. 'No, and I don't plan to.'

'Shame on you, Raisa. He's a charming young man and you know he's always had our approval.'

'And _you_ know there's nothing wrong with Kai.' She continued to glare at the woman who wouldn't look back at her. 'Yet, you're still determined to back out on your own decision.'

There was another long and painful silence, which Raisa abruptly brought an end to, along with the conversation, before stepping out of the now empty room. 'I don't understand why you have suddenly changed your mind. But I guess I just don't understand a lot of things. But your decisions don't come into it anymore, because this marriage will happen, and soon. Voltaire is intent on it.'

She couldn't see the pain in her mother's eyes, when she had made her daughter so frustrated, unable to explain her reasons. She had to let her walk away, knowing that she really did have no control any longer.

* * *

(A/N) Tala is not gay, sorry to those who are disappointed. But the comment Kai made shows how he feels about homosexuality, so it's there for a reason.


	8. Party's Over

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

* * *

'Your dress matches my hair.'

After skulking away from her mother in the other room, for the past half hour Raisa had wandered through the crowds of noisy aristocrats, trying to avoid catching sight of anybody she knew. She had hoped to find somebody really boring to have an interesting conversation with. However, this plan had proved to be unsuccessful when she found herself walking closely beside Tala, who kept making sudden comments that was very unlike him. This was the fourth time he had pointed out the colour of her dress, and Raisa could no longer be bothered to gently tell him that her dress was at least 5 shades darker. She hadn't caught sight of Kai since she let him wander by himself, but had a feeling he wouldn't be touching any alcohol. She had been carrying around the same glass of champagne since they first walked in, and didn't plan on drinking anything else. Tala though, she was certain, was on his fifth drink at the very least. He wasn't so much _drunk_, as he was unnaturally sociable. Too sociable for Tala. But while Raisa graciously walked him around the party, she saw that he looked happy. When he turned to point out how fabulous the décor was, his piercing blue eyes had never sparkled so much. He appeared to have made a large number of new friends since Raisa and Kai had left him alone, and he nodded and smiled to several beaming faces on his way around. All the while, carrying another ridiculous peach margarita.

'My parents have left.' she stated, more to herself than Tala, with annoyance and confusion in her voice as she glanced around the ballroom. Tala wasn't paying attention though; he was far too fascinated by the elegant dancing to listen to anything Raisa said.

She was once again left alone as he was dragged away, far more willingly this time, by another group of eccentrics. Raisa rolled her eyes and muttered 'Light weight', a smug smile crossing her features.

Kai stood alone on the back porch, ignoring everybody around and in turn, not being disturbed. It would seem that all the party guests had given up on trying to engage him in conversation. He had been standing there for at least an hour now, being his usual antisocial self. Though he had met Raisa's parents, he hadn't seen them since, and with a pang of irritation wondered if he really did need to be there in the first place. As far as he knew, he hadn't made a wonderful impression, and had spent the remainder of the party standing around doing nothing. The whole place was filled with either rich boring people, or rich senseless people, neither of which deserved such privileges. Around him were many who had simply had too much to drink already, and were falling about all over the place in a fanatical manner. He inwardly sighed. If these were the type of people Raisa's family were associated with he was certain he didn't want any part of it. Then again, the people his family were associated with were business-driven nut-cases so he wasn't really in a position to complain.

As though of cue, he suddenly caught sight of her strolling down the well-lit garden path a little way away from him. Trying not to catch too much attention from his sudden movement, he swiftly made his way towards her.

'Oh God.' Raisa groaned to herself upon catching sight of somebody she really didn't want to see. She had been about to turn and walk the other way, when she felt a presence behind her and heard a voice speaking near her ear.

'It's 10:30,' the voice droned, in an almost sing-song way. 'We've been here 2 and a half hours, 30 minutes longer than you said we would be.'

Raisa sighed and nodded, turning to face him. 'Yes, of course. I'm sorry, we'll go very soon. In fact, I'll go and find-'

'Raisa.' A voice called out from somewhere behind her. She winced at the sound of the voice, and the thought of being seen before she could make a break for it. She didn't turn around for a few moments and Kai looked over her head to see who was calling.

'It's Marcus.' she breathed, rolling her eyes in dismay.

At first Kai simply 'hmm'ed, closing his eyes with his classic smug expression. Then he actually said a proper sentence 'Well, let's go say hi then.'

Raisa almost laughed. 'Kai, you never cease to surprise me.' She reluctantly looked over her shoulder, before nodding decisively. 'Alright, come on then.'

Kai found Marcus to look exactly the same as he had in that painting he had found in Raisa's room. That incident had resulted in a long explanation that may as well have been her life story, but at least Kai now realised the real reason Raisa had wanted him there. She had said she would 'willingly fly back to him' and Kai understood why she wouldn't have said anything in front of Tala.

He was sitting in a small group of people that looked to be around their age, mainly girls, and he didn't much stand out in the crowd. Kai felt that somebody who paid less attention than he did could easily miss him. As they approached, he rose awkwardly and the conversation carried on around him as though nothing was happening. He was a little taller than Kai, but his expression said very plainly that he was quite awestruck in Kai's presence. That's an understatement, he almost looked terrified.

Barely even looking at Raisa, when the three of them met somewhere in the middle, he mumbled a very awkward 'hello' and proceeded to look from elsewhere, to Kai, and back again.

Raisa smiled, having gained confidence from his anxiety. 'Marcus, it's nice to see you again,' she began with a forced expression, as though she were a small child forced to go to church on Christmas day; not knowing why it had to be done, but accepting it blindly in any case. 'I trust you know that I am betrothed. This is Kai Hiwatari.'

From his expression, it was obvious that he didn't know Raisa was betrothed, and Raisa probably knew that already. He also appeared to recognise Kai's name, who inwardly grimaced at even the mention of the word, but his expression stayed stony and he remained in silence.

'Nice to meet you. I'm, er, Marcus Prestifilippo.' There was a painful silence for a few seconds, only broken by the background noise of the drunken wealth. He hastily added, with a new burst of shy charm in his voice 'You look really good.'

The immediate reaction was a warm smile. But it didn't linger for more than two seconds before Raisa quickly realised and put her emotionless and over-confident face back on, clearly showing her anger at her own emotions. 'Thankyou, you look well too.'

This whole scenario could have been very funny, had Kai not been kept there against his will for 2 and a half hours. Now he was in no mood for situation humour, he just wanted to go back to the right wing and get some peace and quiet. This situation between Marcus and Raisa didn't interest him in the slightest, no matter how helpful he was appearing to be towards her. Whether she went back to him or not, had nothing to do with him. Either she would have to marry him anyway for now, or Kai would have his own way and she could go back to Marcus and never concern herself with him again.

Suddenly Kai became aware of a loud noise behind him. This noise was very familiar, but certainly didn't belong in this situation. Raisa seemed to notice aswell, as the air around them became increasingly powerful and irregular. Suddenly the winds had changed, and the thundering noise behind them certainly had something to do with it.

As he turned, he found his hair being blown in all directions from the force of it, but he could clearly see what was going on. Hovering a little above the large house, still going unnoticed by most of the uncontrolled drunks, was a large jet black helicopter. There was no need to guess that the reason for it being there involved one of them, and Kai faintly wondered why he was so surprised.

Marcus gaped at it and began to go pale as several men, silhouetted against the night sky, dropped down from the ladders on to the roof. People were beginning to realise something was going on now, and the loud thudding noise of the helicopter was mixed with the cries and screams of the frantic party guests, running madly in all different directions while the men dressed in black broke their way in through the upstairs windows.

'Tala!' It was Raisa who had cried out, but Kai was way ahead of her, sprinting up towards the house everybody else was trying to flee from. Raisa charged after him, dress and hair blowing wildly in the strong wind.

'Nobody move! You're all to stay exactly where you are!' came the bellowing voice of a man who had dropped down from the landing upstairs. This didn't do much to help the situation, where those who couldn't control themselves frantically made to get away, still screaming with sheer panic.

Kai fought through the groups of frenzied people, roughly pushing half of them out of the way, trying to find Tala. Raisa was close behind him, not wanting to lose both of them, still calling out his name.

When the party failed to cooperate, several of the men dressed in black from head to foot pulled out large guns in an attempt to scare them into silence. This proved to be even more unsuccessful than the first attempt and the room was fast becoming packed, with the disorientated fleeing into the house to get away from the men with guns who stood on the back porch.

In all the chaos, Kai finally managed to locate the person he was looking for. Taking Raisa firmly by the arm, the two of them waded their way towards Tala. Any effect the alcohol had been having on him before had clearly vanished without a trace. He looked relieved when he saw them approaching him, and had tied a black bandana around his head so as to hide his distinctive red hair.

Suddenly a shot was fired from one of the guns. Whether it was at a person or in the air was unclear, but the chaos it caused was scary in itself. By now, those who hadn't escaped already were still desperately trying to flee, the men were becoming less and less patient and more gunshots were being fired. Glass was smashing and people were screaming, falling to the floor and probably being crushed. It was amidst all this pandemonium that the three of them managed to escape unharmed and unnoticed, for the most part.

'The car's this way!' Tala called after Kai, who still had a firm grip on Raisa's wrist and was pulling her at a faster pace than she could run.

'No time,' was Kai's response. 'Come on, we have to leave!'

They ran for several minutes, having fled the disarray of the party without looking back, before any of them said anything. It was Tala who spoke first.

'But Kai, where are we going?'

Before Kai could say anything, Raisa put fourth her idea with defiance.

'We're going to my house.'

* * *

(A/N) Sheesh, this chapter's awful. I swear my writing skills are fast disappearing. Good thing I'm going back to school tomorrow I guess


	9. Red Flames on White Satin

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

* * *

Fortunately the Luinwe mansion wasn't very far from the Prestifilippo's, and after running for about ten minutes, too shaken to stop, they found themselves pushing open the large gates at the end of the drive. They didn't stop running until they were deep into the house, and even then they were reluctant to relax. Raisa threw her gloves down on to the coffee table and, having caught her breath, retreated back to the hallway.

The Georgian style mansion was probably smaller than one of the wings of the Hiwatari home, but what it lacked in size it made up for in elegance. It seemed almost every wall, every carpet, every item of furniture was cream or white. It was the sort of place that makes a clean person feel filthy. It would show every speck of dust if there was any around, and hide every shadow when the sun was shining. It looked more like a museum than a family home, but then again Voltaire's mansion could easily be mistaken for a public building. In fact, a family could probably live in one of the wings for a week without either one of them noticing.

'Filipp' Raisa addressed the butler who was standing by the door. 'Filipp, my parents, where are they?'

The butler hesitated for a few moments, as though trying to decide what to say. Finally, he stuttered 'Y-…your parents made a telephone call 2 hours ago, asking that their things be packed and ready. They arrived half an hour ago and evacuated, with their luggage.'

Raisa gaped at him, wide-eyed, utterly perplexed. She checked herself quickly and cleared her throat. 'When will they be returning?'

'They did not say.' She started to walk away, aghast, when the warning tone in his voice made her freeze. 'Mademoiselle! …I suggest that you leave too.'

Raisa turned slowly to face him. 'Is that so Filipp? And what gives you this trepidation?'

'I could not say, mademoiselle, but Madame Luinwe would never want anything bad to happen to you,' he paused. 'especially after tonight.'

Without another word, Raisa stormed into the next room, where Tala had made himself comfortable on the large white chaise longue. Kai remained standing, leaning casually against the white mantelpiece. Her lips were pressed tightly together and her eyes were wide, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. They were all on high alert, waiting for any slight piece of information about what might have just happened.

'What is it?' asked Tala, as soon as she had entered.

Raisa sat down beside him, no longer graceful, but frustrated and shaking slightly. She blinked a few times before answering. 'They called for their luggage.'

'What?' Kai had opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at the two of them.

'My parents, they called, two hours ago.' There was a pause as she blinked some more. Finally, she lost patience and rose from the chaise longue, beginning to pace around the room. 'They know something…' her voice was reaching panic now. 'They know something, and they won't tell me!'

The moment was cut off by the ringing of the telephone. Raisa almost jumped and crossed the room, beating the butler to it. She waved him away and picked up the receiver. 'Hello?'

At once, she looked somewhat relieved. 'Marcus…' Kai lifted his head again. 'I'm glad you're okay…I'm fine…at my parent's house…'

Tala rubbed his head, loosening the top buttons of his shirt with the other hand. He prayed that nobody had been killed. While Raisa spoke, he glanced over towards Kai, who looked as though he was trying to piece together a puzzle in his mind. He had moved from the mantle to the cream-coloured arm chair, and sat resting his head in his hand. He looked almost as troubled as Raisa did, but neither of them had any idea. Neither of them knew the reason for all of this. But Tala knew. Though how Mr and Mrs Luinwe had figured it out, he had no idea. The one thing he was certain of, was that they would be easily traced. If his suspicions were correct, they would probably have already been followed. He hated this moment in limbo, silently waiting for something that only he knew was coming.

As soon as Raisa was off the phone, he voiced his opinion. 'We should get out of here.'

But she shook her head. 'Whoever those men were, their mission did not concern us. We should be safe here.' She began to walk towards the door, turning over her shoulder to ask 'Can I get a drink for either of you?'

Tala was unable to find a way to express his concern without explaining everything. In a minor state of terror, he shook his head. Kai also declined the offer, and Raisa left the room.

'Kai, we have to leave.' began Tala, as soon as she was out of ear-shot. 'They would have followed us, we are all in danger here!'

Kai nodded solemnly. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but from the fright in Tala's voice, he trusted that the red-head knew what he was talking about. They had a reason to be worried, and needed to leave immediately.

But at that moment the two boys heard the sound of high-heeled shoes, clip-clopping hurriedly along the clean marble floor. Raisa appeared in the door-way, now looking as petrified as Tala felt. She was shaking from head to toe, her eyes still wide as the white porcelain saucers. Kai and Tala were on their feet in a second.

'They're here!' Raisa's alarm came out as a hoarse whisper. 'They're here, they've come for us!' She made wild indications with her hand towards the back door. 'Run! Out the back way! Go, we have to leave!'

She turned on her heel and charged back down the empty corridor. For now all was quiet, almost too quiet. She found her butler, standing by the front door, doing his duty. She began to run, the sound of her shoes on the marble disturbing the silence. 'Filipp!'

Kai and Tala had not moved. Tala stayed put while Kai began to charge after her. 'Filipp! A cab, call a cab! Have him collect us two blocks down! Then get out! Get everyone out of here!'

Filipp carried out his orders, reaching for the telephone with shaky hands, while Kai reached Raisa and they charged back in the other direction. The house was still in silence, besides the sound of hurried footsteps. Raisa pulled off her shoes and threw them aside as the three of them began to run to the back rooms of the house.

'This way!' They reached the large glass doors at the back of the house, only to find that they wouldn't open. Nor would any other door they tried. All doors leading from the outside to the inside of the house had been locked.

The silence was suddenly broken. The three of them stood, rooted to the spot in fear, as they heard the distant sound of breaking glass.

'They're here.' It was Tala's faint whisper this time. The other two remained frozen, but Kai had recovered. Seizing one of the satin footstalls, he threw it directly at the glass. The back door shattered as the sound of distant footsteps were heard at the front of the house.

'Come on!' He practically threw Tala through the small hole in the shattered glass. But Raisa hesitated. 'Move!' He grabbed her by the arm and pushed her through, following right behind her. As he kicked more glass to break his way through, he heard a very strange and foreboding sound, and saw out of the corner of his eye, before taking off as fast as he could, an unmistakable red glare.

They had reached the end of the garden, hopefully unseen, and had only to wait under cover until the damage was done. Kai was not completely certain about what he had seen and heard, but the yell that came from behind him was his first clue that he wasn't wrong. The second clue was the loud lashing and cackling of the flames. He looked up at Tala, who was looking straight past him, eyes wide and mouth open. Kai spun around, in time to take hold of Raisa to stop her from running back towards her blazing house. She fought against him but his grip was strong.

Suddenly, Tala gasped. Kai looked up to see a man standing by the pool-side. Another ran towards him with something in his hand. He held it up, and Kai recognised it to be one of the shoes Raisa had thrown aside when they had fled. The two men conversed for a few minutes. Being quite far from them, Kai could not make out what they were saying. Finally, the man who had been waiting called over several others; they all appeared to be leaving. Having found the shoe, they must have assumed the 3 of them were dead. Before he knew what he was doing, Kai took off after them. Tala called 'Stop!' after him, but it didn't help. By the time Kai reached the drive, he only saw the tail lights of a black car pull out of the drive and out of sight, leaving the damage they had created behind.

Tala and Raisa caught up with him and, assuming the coast was now clear, thought it was best to run while they still had the chance. By the time the loud sirens of the fire department were heard, they were out of sight. Being as vigilant as possible, they ran without words, without hesitation, until they reached the waiting taxi cab.

They piled into the back. 'The Hiwatari Mansion.' Raisa demanded, leaning forwards to address the driver. When there was a small hesitation, she exclaimed 'Go!' in a state of panic.

The cab drove down the road they had just been running from. 'Well damn, would you look at that…' The cab driver seemed positively awe-struck at the scene.

The crisp white house was still coated with the red glow of the blazing fire, as flames lashed out through every window and every door. The large drive was littered with fire trucks, as the fire fighters tried to control the raging inferno. He slowed down the cab to get a better look, and Raisa started to quietly moan.

'Can we keep it moving please?' Tala demanded, quite rudely. 'We're in a hurry.'

They arrived back at the Hiwatari mansion and entered into the right wing without disturbance. The three of them stood in the large hall for a few seconds, no doubt one of them trying to piece together the puzzle, the other wondering when the questions would start flying. But none came; on the contrary, he almost went unnoticed. Kai approached Raisa and took her firmly by the arms. 'Go to bed. Don't call anybody and don't leave the house.' He glanced over at Tala, and then back at her. 'We will talk about this tomorrow.'

Raisa obeyed without objection. Nodding her head to both boys, she slowly made her way to the staircase. Kai then began to walk back in the other direction, saying over his shoulder 'You go to bed too, Tala.'

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(A/N) Gosh, this one was really short. One more to go and I've achieved my goal for spring break :)


	10. Conversations not Meant to be Heard

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(A/N) I wrote this chapter at around 2 in the morning a few nights ago, when I was seriously lacking sleep. Just, you know, keep that in mind.

Disclaimer- I don't own Beyblade or any of the beyblade characters. However all OCs are owned by me and are not to be stolen (though I know nobody has that intention)

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Up in the second spare bedroom, in the right wing of the Hiwatari mansion, sat a red-head in his bed, far away from the land of dreams. He had barely tried, but knew it was hopeless. There was no way he would be getting to sleep any time soon. He wondered if Raisa or Kai were asleep aswell. Kai wouldn't be, he could bet on it. Kai would be as wide awake as he was, probably pacing in one of his many rooms, trying to decide something which he knows nothing about.

No, nobody knew, but Tala was pretty certain he knew who those men were that attacked the party, and burned down Raisa's house. He knew exactly who they were, and that what they were after. It was him. It was revenge.

In a slight sense of panic and guilt, Tala jumped from the bed and began to get dressed. Going for the nearest outfit he could find, his hand clasped around the expensive material of the shirt he had been wearing only a couple of hours ago. He was midway through pulling it on when he paused. No, he thought, this doesn't belong to me. The shirt was Kai's, and Tala was not one to steal. Besides, he didn't want to saunter out wearing something so fancy and expensive.

After folding the shirt neatly and placing it back on the bed, he pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater. Going around the room shoving everything into his bag, he thought of all the damage he had done in the short time he had been around. Kai hadn't taken much to him showing up in the first place, and he had managed to endanger Kai's life even further.

And Raisa. Well, he barely even knew her, and managed to have her family home burned to the ground. There was nothing that could justify it; though she had no idea it was linked to him, Tala knew he was solitarily responsible. That alone was enough to make him feel twice as bad as he would if she knew. He sighed and shook his head, no wonder he always had such difficulty making friends. He was never in the same place for long before having to split, destroying something in possession of somebody else in the process. Trying to just be a good person and stay out of the way was proving to be difficult.

But soon enough that wouldn't matter. By tomorrow, his new friend and his old friend would be left in peace, or as much peace as they were in before. At least for a while. The extra cause for trouble would be gone soon, and they could go back to being under Voltaire's control.

Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he made his way to the window and opened it wide. The biting wind howled and pricked at his skin, but he beard with it and, resisting against the snow, leaned out slightly to catch sight of the ground beneath. Taking the indoor stairs was too risky; Kai would certainly catch him, which was the last thing he wanted.

He looked down again. The ground was soft, but he was quite high up. The drainpipe ran down past the window to the first floor, and from there he could try to climb down the vines that crawled up one side of the giant house.

Taking in breath, he lifted his bag to throw it down first, before a realisation came to him. He tried to think it over for a few minutes, but the cold was distracting.

'Shit.' He muttered, closing the window louder than was wise, and slumping himself down on the sill, back against the cold glass.

He couldn't do it. No matter how much he was to blame, he couldn't bring himself to walk away. What kind of a person was he to just cause damage and then walk away to let the victims pick up the pieces? If he was going to leave, he should have done weeks before, but now was a foolish time to run away. Kai and Raisa wouldn't see it as being helpful, they would see it as betrayal, and cowardice. Which is what it was, no matter what he tried to disguise it as in his mind. He was doing them no favours by leaving now, he owed them his nothing but support.

Throwing down his bag to the floor in a slight state of frustration, Tala threw himself back on to the oversized bed and unsuccessfully tried once more to get some sleep.

* * *

When Kai drove in through the double doors of the garage which was about the size of the average house, he was exhausted and far from pleased. After all, walking all the way back to the location they had been in hours ago to retrieve a vehicle can prove to be rather tiring. With the sole objective of escaping for their lives, Kai had been forced to leave his precious black jaguar at the Prestifilippo mansion. Anyone other than Kai Hiwatari would have had a cab drive them to the mansion, but after paying the other cab driver to bring them home, Kai had been short of cash and wasn't in the mood to spend tedious time ignoring feeble attempts at small talk with a driver.

Kai walked slowly around his pride and joy, scanning every inch of it for the slightest of damages. There was a small dent in the hood, and a stain of some kind on one of the doors, but nothing too drastic, he was glad to see. The house, outside which he had left his car, had been a wreck. He was sure the Prestifilippos had stayed put, but there was some serious repair that would need doing.

He had also, mainly out of his incurable curiosity, made sure to drive past Raisa's family home, where they had been only a few hours ago. He hadn't stopped, for fear of looking suspicious, but from the road he had only seen a wreck. The flames had stopped by then and the fire fighters had departed from the scene. All that remained was a black ruin, partially hidden amongst the night sky. He doubted anything had managed to survive the fire.

He found that thinking about it made him angry. That fire had been no accident. He had seen the man, holding up Raisa's shoe and making the assumption that they were dead, he had run after their car. But it was no use and they had escaped. Kai tried to muster his thoughts, but couldn't find much of an explanation. He knew Tala had something to do with it, that was all. Tala had forewarned them that they were the ones those men were after, and it had nothing to do with the Prestifilippos. And yet somehow, Raisa's parents had known it was coming. They had made plans to escape, and hadn't made any attempt to warn their daughter that her life could be in danger. Kai couldn't piece together the puzzle, and could only think of one way to satisfy his curiosity at the moment. He _could_ pester Tala, but why do that when the suspected source was so near by? Why, he was even in the same building.

Letting himself in with his spare key, he found himself plunged into complete darkness. Kai inwardly heaved a sigh of relief with realisation that no servant would be awake this late. This would make sneaking around an awful lot easier.

'Boris, the Luinwe house was reported to be up in flames three hours ago.' Kai could hear that there was an edge to Voltaire's tone as he spoke to the screen. He was about to speak again when he was cut off.

'Yes, of course. I sent my men after them, having seen them escape from the Prestifilippo house.'

'What of the Prestifilippos?'

Kai Boris frown slightly in concentration before responding 'As far as I know, they're fine.'

'Good,' Voltaire abruptly concluded. 'The last thing we want is any suspicions linking them to the Luinwe's.'

'But sir,' Boris began, seemingly agitated that Voltaire appeared to be missing the point entirely. 'Does it not please you that my men were able to finish off their job as I promised? At least, I'm almost certain. There's no way they could have survived the-'

He appeared to have been stammering out of uncertainty, but Voltaire cut him off in an agitated voice. 'If it's my grandson and the Luinwe daughter you're talking about, I have reason to believe that both returned home safely several hours ago.'

Kai stepped sideways and disappeared from view for a few seconds, taken aback by his grandfathers knowledge of their safe return. Also a bit of a shock, but not really surprising, Kai now knew that Boris's men had been the people who crashed the party, and had burned down Raisa's house. He also knew now, that his grandfather had sent them. Obviously these plans his grandfather had been working on involved him, and were being carried out far sooner than he had expected. Though no longer looking into the room, Kai could still hear Voltaire, getting increasingly angry with each word he spoke.

'And for that matter, I don't know what voice in your head told you it would be a bright idea to burn down the entire mansion. If I had wanted them dead, I would have done it myself. Now all thanks to you, Boris, the Luinwe's have escaped and on top of that, suspicions will be high. I ensure you, my grandson is no idiot, he will have it figured out very soon.'

Kai half chuckled and half growled at his grandfather's correctness. Despite how hard he tried to let nobody get to know him properly, the one person who did was sure to be Voltaire. Finding his courage, he peered back through the gap in the door.

'There's something else,' Boris suddenly retorted. The next thing he said made Kai hold his breath for a moment, before realising they weren't talking about him. Though, after realising who they were talking about, his eyes grew slightly wider. 'The boy's escaped.'

The anger disappeared for a moment and instead curiosity took over Voltaire's voice 'What boy?'

'Tala, he's gone. He broke into the lab and destroyed everything he found. Almost none of it was important, mind you, old experiments and researches. But he broke away, and…' he paused for a moment, irritation rising in his voice. '…and somebody reported sighting him at the Prestifilippo house tonight.'

This didn't have quite the dramatic effect on Voltaire that Boris had hoped. He made the all too familiar Hiwatari 'hm' noise and frowned even more at his business partner's incompetence.

Boris continued, more to himself than anybody else 'I swear, when I find him he will have hell to pay for what he's done…'

'Boris,' Voltaire interjected with force, having had just about enough. 'The boy you speak of has been living in my house under the wing of Kai for the past month.'

Both Kai and Boris were startled this time. Though while Boris was free to let out an enraged 'What!?', Kai could only gape at his grandfather's profile from the hallway.

'A-are you sure?' came the stutter from the laptop.

Suddenly the image of Boris disappeared momentarily, and Kai saw, much to his horror, images of the different areas of his house flash across the screen, from the point of view of some tiny hidden camera implanted in the corner of each room. The deserted hall, deserted sitting room, the servant girl scuttling around the kitchen, wiping down the counter-tops. Then the landing, also deserted. Raisa's room where she lay asleep in her bed, and finally Tala's room, where he seemed to be sitting on the window sill, still fully clothed. Kai could only stare, exasperated, as he learned the truth, the reason his grandfather knew everything that went on in the right wing of the mansion. Kai had the sudden urge to throw something, but resisted the temptation, and decided it would be best to leave when he realised Voltaire wouldn't be able to locate him anywhere, and that would cause suspicion.

Turning slowly to leave, Kai heard Boris' growling voice once more 'So, that's where he's been hiding. Well, believe me, when I have him back he'll be sorry he ever tried to be rid of me.'

Sneaking carefully down the hall, careful to not make a sound, Kai played over and over again in his mind the conversation he had just heard. The night had basically just been explained to him, though he still didn't know Voltaire's plans. He did know something though, action had to be taken, and immediately.

Ignoring the yawn, he made his way back into his own half of the mansion. No matter how much he needed it, there would be no sleep tonight.

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(A/N) Ah, chapter 10 done. Only 13 more chapters left.

I will probably take a short break in writing this for now, and continue with 'Do Svi Danya' until I get to chapter 10 with that one. I am quite determined to get this story finished, despite how little popularity it gets. I thought of discontinuing it, and might still do that, but we haven't even reached the part where the story begins to get interesting yet.

So, I suppose we'll call this the intermission. And for now, it's on hold.


End file.
